Started with Shaolin Do, then quit and trained with other more knowledgeable teachers. I'd do boxing, unless you can find a Xingyi teacher who actually puts his students into Sanda, Leitai, Koshu or Sansho tournaments.

Minus forms, the techniques and power generation, contrary to what you wil hear *cough* internal *cough* Vs external *cough* is extremely similar.

I have access to one of the best xing yi instructors in N.America. Unfortunately, like most traditional chinese IMA schools, they don't spar which probably greatly reduces the effectiveness in real combat. They do however do some 2 person drills etc...

But yea, from all accounts training an external boxing or thai boxing seems to yield better results.

2-man drills/forms are a fun training tool that doesn't help without sparring. Even with my McDojo training I felt the fact we sparred was leaps and bounds over some of the non sparring Xingyi teachers I worked with.

Their forms and explanations were helpful, but their applicability was always a little off to me. You can always tell when someone hasn't sparred because their SD explanations have to be severely altered. If you have previous striking and sparring training go for it. If not, I'd recommend at least a year if not two of boxing or Muay Thai.

IMO, It is much harder to escape the rigidity that tends to be taught in many TMA schools. You know right block here, left foot there, and structure is of utmost importance.

This might sound confusing, but it is my based on my personal expreience.

I don't want to say it is less structured, but you create your own style of fighting from the basics in boxing and Muay Thai. In most TMA Schools, which I think leads to most problems, you have preset patterns of some old master that fit his body type. So, you tend to follow that severe structure. When this is fully ingrained, you have to train it out of you when you do a free form style like boxing or muay Thai. The problems I had were trying not to be structured and trying to stay away from rhythm and patterns.

In reverse, you'll have all of the basics in a free form environment. When you go to a more structured environment, it'll be minor corrections moving into a rigid system.

IMO, It is much harder to escape the rigidity that tends to be taught in many TMA schools. You know right block here, left foot there, and structure is of utmost importance.

This might sound confusing, but it is my based on my personal expreience.

I don't want to say it is less structured, but you create your own style of fighting from the basics in boxing and Muay Thai. In most TMA Schools, which I think leads to most problems, you have preset patterns of some old master that fit his body type. So, you tend to follow that severe structure. When this is fully ingrained, you have to train it out of you when you do a free form style like boxing or muay Thai. The problems I had were trying not to be structured and trying to stay away from rhythm and patterns.

In reverse, you'll have all of the basics in a free form environment. When you go to a more structured environment, it'll be minor corrections moving into a rigid system.

Personally I can attest to this I went from kick boxing to karate and it was pretty easy to just move right in, the stances were different but one good thing about kickboxing is the versatility it teaches you. The hip movements are similar and my round kick I loved so is there but a little different more knee flex and pull back in stead of haul ass through the opponent, but that kick is there too, sadly most don't teach it because it isn't allowed in the point sparring tournaments, lol just thought i'd give my two cents.

I did some light sparring with a multiple dan uechi ryu black belt and he did some sticky hands type **** on me. kind of similar to redirection in the judo/mt clinch. Their stance is similar to the one katsunori kikuno uses.

I did some light sparring with a multiple dan uechi ryu black belt and he did some sticky hands type **** on me. kind of similar to redirection in the judo/mt clinch. Their stance is similar to the one katsunori kikuno uses.

Uechi Ryu practicioners use a lot of "guard breaking" That is pushing the nearest hand a opponent has against them to creat a opening and strike

When facing opponents who use a more closed guard they have a much harder time creating openings this way

The Uechi system was designed for defending against untrained opponents right?

Can any of you guys who have experience with the style comment on its strengths and weaknesses as well as whether it offers any unique advantages over systems like muay thai or kyokushin that have a tighter guard?